It is also helpful knowing if any of the drop catching services have "first dibs" on the name you're looking to acquire. Most (all?) drop catchers have registra

It is also helpful knowing if any of the drop catching services have "first dibs" on the name you're looking to acquire. Most (all?) drop catchers have registrar relationships, so it may very well be the case that one service has a huge advantage over the others. Personally I don't know if these lists are published (a quick search yielded nothing current), but I would do a bit of research to see if the registrar of your desired domain does have a drop catcher partnership. Failing that, I would put in a bid on all the services you've mentioned. Godaddy backordering is a special case, as you have to buy a credit upfront (whether or not the name is secured). If the current registrar turns out to be GoDaddy or one of its subsidiaries (eg. Wild West Domains, there may be others), then be sure to buy that credit. Otherwise, I'd advise against it. I've never seen GoDaddy's drop catch come out on top (granted its a small sample size, I've used dropcatching to secure approx 10 low-competition domains). EDIT: A quick WHOIS on the domain will tell you the current registrar. I'm sure you don't want to share the specific name, but sharing the current registrar here may help out.